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Comment by harpratap | Hacker News Reader

Yes, definitely. But the article seems to suggest that Apple has enjoyed continued success for past 3 decades. But in reality they only established themselves with the iPhone. Apple's model already has a proven weakness - Microsoft. Had Microsoft created good Mobile OS around 2008-09 iPhone wouldn't have seen much success IMO.

So Apple's success is more of lack of a good competitor more than anything else. High end Android phones + Fast, stable, long term supported OS from Microsoft + Developers would have done the same thing to iPhone that PC did to Macs.

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> Had Microsoft created good Mobile OS around 2008-09 iPhone wouldn't have seen much success IMO.

It sounds like you're not giving Apple enough credit for good hardware. iOS isn't the reason to get an iPhone, the physical device, the actual phone, is the reason.

If Apple allowed people to install Windows Mobile on iPhone, I think I'd still get an iPhone, and maybe would install Windows on it.

For geeks yes, but majority of the world doesn't care about specs. A Nokia or HTC phone has the same quality hardware as an iPhone. Heck HTC even licensed their unibody design to Apple which they are still using till date on the new iPhone SE. And Windows worked amazingly smooth on low end hardware like 510 too, so majority wouldn't have noticed any difference between a Snapdragon or A-series chips.

The "normal" people care more about the aesthetics of the iPhone than the hardware. Although, everyone places the phone in a case. The outer appearance helps a lot when people are buying and the software animations are still arguably better than android. Basically, Apple has somehow made a complete visual experience pleasing throughout the years and while a Nokia or HTC device can mimic functionality. They still don't give the same impression for "normal" people.

The iPod already established the Apple brand as a status symbol, so the iPhone had that leg up.

I think the issue is less that Apple did amazing things, than everyone else was being sloppy as hell with supply chain and quality control. If you look at post war consumer goods, many have great Craftsmanship. But the lure of planned obselessence and cheep outsourcing ruined most product design and execution, and Apple somehow realized there wasn't a risk of not getting the benefits of planned obselessence in making a fancier-crafted project while hardware was still improving.

They still are. PC manufacturers still can’t get touch pads right in 2020. They still ship notebooks that feel janky and don’t have the same solid feel like a MacBook does.

It’s just not in their DNA. That says something

Are we talking about the same company who couldn't get Keyboards and thermals right?

Why I said "fancier-crafted". Apple does tons of crap, especially in software. But it is still better than the even more abysmal competition.

I was talking about a hypothetical scenario where it was Microsoft vs Apple in the mobile space instead of Google vs Apple. Windows worked just as fluid as iOS when they finally got it right, but they were there too late.

> The "normal" people care more about the aesthetics of the iPhone than the hardware.

That's exactly what I said. iPhone 6 to SE 2020 unibody design is from HTC. They made the same kind of phones on the outside.

This article was written by a former VP of software at Microsoft. You are simultaneously saying that MS is successful in some way that Apple is not and also saying that one of the folks that helped lead MS to success over the last 20 years isn’t competent enough to comment on just how competent and successful Apple has been for the last 15 years. Just drop the bitterness and read the dude’s writing, he knows what he is talking about.

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